Martinez: Stoke’s late penalty ‘such a wrong call’

Everton boss Roberto Martinez criticised referee Mark Clattenburg after the Toffees were beaten by Stoke in dramatic circumstances at Goodison Park.

The Potters secured a 4-3 victory in stoppage time thanks to Marko Arnautovic’s penalty.

Clattenburg, taking a few seconds as he made the call, awarded the spot-kick after Arnautovic went down in the box under a challenge from John Stones.

And Martinez said following the game: “The feeling is extra frustrating today because you cannot understand how such an experienced referee gives that decision right at the end.

“It is such a wrong call. Someone with his experience should understand the game a bit more.

“Clearly John Stones gets a touch of the ball and from that point on you can see there is a doubt from the referee.

“He does not give it straight away, so he wants confirmation, and he waits for the linesman – who is probably about 45 yards away from the incident – to give him his view.

“It is very disappointing at that point for us to lose a draw.”

Martinez – whose side had battled back from being 2-1 down at half-time to lead 3-2 with just under 20 minutes to go – admitted Everton’s performance could have been better, particularly on the defensive front.

But the main focus of his post-match comments was Clattenburg, who he felt had also been wrong not to give a penalty following Erik Pieters’ challenge on Seamus Coleman in the first half.

“It is a game we didn’t deserve to lose and it is one where we should have got a lot more,” said Martinez.

“Obviously we want to win these sort of games, but if you can’t win it we should never have lost because of that terrible decision from the referee right at the end.

“The disappointment is that he got that one wrong, but it is extra painful when he wasn’t consistent throughout the game.”

Martinez said he had spoken to Clattenburg after the match, and added: “I have huge respect for Mark’s career – he has always been someone I felt was very honest and a perfectionist in what he wants to do.

“But clearly today he was very much out of sorts and his decisions punished us incredibly.

“To give a penalty in the 90th minute, you have to be certain, and you use your experience on that. When you are not certain, it is very strange to see an experienced referee doing that.”